Weirdly enough, in the months leading up to his death, I had somewhat randomly bought this album and was listening to it a lot. I knew all the Michael Jackson mega-hits, but I wasn’t familiar with his lesser-known slightly under-the-radar songs, many of which are equally awesome. This album’s got a few mega-hits, but lots of modest hits, too, and they’re soooo good. It’s produced by Quincy Jones, and it’s immensely dance-able. The bass line in “Off the Wall” is one of my favorite things ever.
A year ago today, me and Katie and Ray were teching our shows at UCB-LA when my brother Dustin came in and said, “Michael Jackson just died." Ray’s jaw dropped down to his knees, and after about 30 seconds, he said, "Guys, this is gonna be the biggest celebrity death of our lives." And I said, "Well…come on, not the biggest." Still not sure if he was right. But it’s definitely one of the biggest. And he helped make some superb music.